• Journal of Korean Tunnelling and Underground Space Association
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• v.15 no.3
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• pp.321-331
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• 2013

This paper describes the evaluation of shield TBM disc cutter penetration depth in practice. In this study the disc cutter penetration depth used to design the excavation speed of tunnel is reviewed. The characteristics of ground encountered in the investigation site are analysed and evaluated. The shield TBM used in the field is reviewed to verify the applicability of machine in the site. The thrust and torque capacities of each TBM disc cutter are also evaluated. Based on the field data, the excavation volume and speed are re-analysed to evaluate the disc cutter penetration depth used in the design stage. It is clearly found that the design value of disc cutter penetration depth needs to modify when estimation of the TBM capacities in very hard rock formation ($S_c$ >150 MPa).

• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• v.34 no.1
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• pp.103-113
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• 2023

This study focused on understanding the relationship between the design of a tunnel boring machine disc cutter ring and its rock-breaking efficiency, as well as the applicable conditions of different cutter ring types. The discrete element method was used to establish a numerical model of the rock-breaking process using disc cutters with different ring types to reveal the development of rock damage cracks and variation in cutter penetration load. The calculation results indicate that a sharp-edged (V-shaped) disc cutter penetrates a rock mass to a given depth with the lowest load, resulting in more intermediate cracks and few lateral cracks, which leads to difficulty in crack combination. Furthermore, the poor wear resistance of a conventional V-shaped cutter can lead to an exponential increase in the penetration load after cutter ring wear. In contrast, constant-cross-section (CCS) disc cutters have the highest quantity of crack extensions after penetrating rock, but also require the highest penetration loads. An arch-edged (U-shaped) disc cutter is more moderate than the aforementioned types with sufficient intermediate and lateral crack propagation after cutting into rock under a suitable penetration load. Additionally, we found that the cutter ring wedge angle and edge width heavily influence cutter rock-breaking efficiency and that a disc cutter with a 16 to 22 mm edge width and 20° to 30° wedge angle exhibits high performance. Compared to V-shaped and U-shaped cutters, the CCS cutter is more suitable for soft or medium-strength rocks, where the penetration load is relatively small. Additionally, two typical case studies were selected to verify that replacing a CCS cutter with a U-shaped or optimized V-shaped disc cutter can increase cutting efficiency when encountering hard rocks.

• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• v.29 no.3
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• pp.359-368
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• 2022

Undercutting using an actuated disc cutter (ADC) involves more complex cutting mechanism than traditional rock cutting does, requiring the application of various new cutting parameters, such as eccentricity, cutter inclination angle, and axis rotational speed. This study presents cutting-edge laboratory-scale testing equipment that allows performing ADC tests. ADC tests were carried out on a concrete block with a specified strength of 20 MPa, using a variety of cutting settings that included penetration depth (p), eccentricity (e), and linear velocity (v). ADC, unlike pick and disc cutting, has a non-linear cutting path with a dynamic cutting direction, requiring the development of a new method for predicting cutting force and specific energy. The influence of cutting parameters to the cutter forces were discussed. The ratio of eccentricity to the penetration depth (e/p) was proposed to evaluate the optimal cutting condition. Specific energy varies with e/p ratio, and exhibits optimum values in particular cases. In general, actuated undercutting may potentially give a more efficient cutting than conventional pick and disc cutting by demonstrating reasonably lower specific energy in a comparable cutting environment.

• Journal of Korean Tunnelling and Underground Space Association
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• v.22 no.4
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• pp.383-399
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• 2020

Optimizing the spacing of the disc cutter is a key element in the design of the TBM cutter head, which determines the drilling performance of the TBM. The full-scale linear cutting test is known as the most reliable and accurate test for calculating the spacing of the disc cutter, but it has the disadvantage of costly and time-consuming for the full-scale experiment. In this study, through the numerical analysis study based on the discrete element method, the tendency between Specific Energy-S/P ratio according to uniaxial compression strength and penetration depth of rock was analyzed, and the optimum spacing of 17-inch disc cutter was derived. To examine the appropriateness of the numerical analysis model, the rolling force acting on the disc cutter was compared and reviewed with the CSM model. As a result of numerical analysis for the linear cutting test, the rolling force acting on the disc cutter was analyzed to be similar to the rolling force derived from the theoretical formula of the CSM model. From the numerical analysis on 5 UCS cases (50 MPa, 70 MPa, 100 MPa, 150 MPa, 200 MPa), it is found that the range of the optimum spacing of the disc cutter decreases as the rock strength increases. And it can be concluded that 80~100 mm of disc cutter spacing is the optimum range having minimum specific energy regardless of rock strength. This tends to coincide with the optimal spacing of previously reported disk cutters, which underpins the disk cutter spacing calculated through this study.

• Journal of Korean Tunnelling and Underground Space Association
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• v.15 no.3
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• pp.225-235
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• 2013

Cutter forces acting on a disc cutter in TBM are the key parameters for TBM design and its performance prediction. This study aimed to experimentally evaluate cutter forces with different ring shapes in a hard rock. The stiffness of a cutter ring was indirectly estimated from a series of full-scale linear cutting tests. From the experiments, it was verified that the rolling stress acting on a V-shape disc cutter was much higher than on a CCS disc cutter even though the penetration depth by a V-shape disc cutter could be increased in the same cutting condition. Finally, it is suggested that a prediction model considering the shape parameters of a disc cutter should be used for its better prediction.

• Tunnel and Underground Space
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• v.32 no.4
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• pp.243-253
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• 2022

In this study, the cutting efficiency of TBE (Tunnel Boring Extender) was evaluated by using rotary cutting tester. In the rotary cutting test, a specimen which has a drilled hollow hole at the center was made of rock-like material. The specimen was cut by UDC (undercutting disc cutter) with spiral cutting path to simulate the cutting process of TBE. The cutting forces and specific energy were evaluated under different cutting conditions. The results indicated that the cutter forces of UDC linearly increased with the vertical and radial penetration depths. Among the three directional cutter forces, the normal force is larger than other force components. While the specific energy decreased with the two penetration depths, in particular, it was presumed that the specific energy was minimized at a certain value of the ratio of radial to vertical penetration depth.

• Journal of Korean Tunnelling and Underground Space Association
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• v.16 no.2
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• pp.161-172
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• 2014

An earth pressure balanced shield TBM with the diameter of 4.4 m was designed and manufactured for a subsea discharge tunnel excavation. Its cutterhead was designed to be optimized for the strongest rock mass condition in the tunnel alignment, and then the applicability of the refurbished shield TBM was validated for its maximum capacity. Especially, the maximum cutter penetration depth for the strongest rock mass condition should be kept to be below 7 mm/rev in order to satisfy the allowable capacities of the shield TBM. From the analysis of TBM advance data, approximately 95% of field data showed the cutter penetration depth below 7 mm/rev. In addition, it was certified that the acting forces of every disc cutter, TBM thrust and torque during TBM driving were within the allowable capacities of the shield TBM and its disc cutters. When real acting forces of the disc cutters in the field were compared with those predicted by the CSM model, they showed the close relationships with each other even though the predictions by the CSM model were approximately 22~25% higher than field data.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society for Rock Mechanics Conference
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• 2006.03a
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• pp.217-236
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• 2006

In this study, the LCM was applied as the preliminary study for the cutterhead design of TBM and the drilling performance evaluation. The optimum cutting condition is obtained from the LCM tests and the effects of the design factors of IBM cutterhead, such as penetration depth and cutter spacing, on drilling performance are estimated. In this study, hence, to predict the accurate performance of TBM, instead of one-dimensional penetration depth applied in existing studies, three-dimensional cutting volume was quantified and measured. For this, the digital photogrammetry technique was applied to the LCM tests. Also, AUTODYN 2D was applied to investigate the applicability of the numerical analysis technique to simulate the cutting process of rock by the TBM disc cutter.

• Journal of Korean Tunnelling and Underground Space Association
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• v.17 no.4
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• pp.457-471
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• 2015

A domestic cutterhead with the diameter of 3.6 m was designed and manufactured in this study. Then, it was attached to an existing earth-pressure balanced shield TBM to excavate a cable tunnel with the length of 1,275 m. Especially, the procedures for TBM cutterhead design and its corresponding performance prediction were also summarized. From field data analyses of the refurbished shield TBM, its maximum advance rate was recorded as 14.4 m/day. Penetration depths of disc cutters were found to be approximately 4 mm/rev, which is equal to the maximum penetration depth designed for the strongest rock strength condition in the target tunnel. Every TBM operating thrust and cutter normal force during TBM driving was much smaller than their corresponding maximum capacities. When cutter acting forces recorded in the field were analyzed, their prediction errors by the CSM model were very high for weak rock conditions. In addition, rock strength showed very close relationships with cutter normal force and penetration depth.

• Tunnel and Underground Space
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• v.30 no.6
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• pp.591-602
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• 2020

Several alternative rock-cutting concepts, which are modified from the conventional ones, have been developed lately. Of the concepts, undercutting is one of the latest technologies. In this study, as a fundamental study on the undercutting technique, the rock-cutting mechanism and important parameters of the undercutting were introduced. This study built up cutting test system for evaluating the cutting performance of an actuated undercutting disc cutter (ADC), and carried out a series of cutting tests under different cutting parameters of ADC. The characteristics of cutter forces obtained from ADC rock-cutting tests were analyzed. The both average and peak values of the three directional cutter forces were linearly increased with the increases of linear velocity, penetration depth in vertical direction and eccentricity of ADC.